Sweetness in Seattle

Last week I was in Seattle for the first time and was lucky to be there on a clear and sunny weekend.  From the top of the Space Needle you could see the Cascadian mountain range frame this beautiful city.  I found Seattle to be the perfect balance of east coast and west coast: pretty old brick buildings and hills of pine trees like New England, but full of relaxed and friendly locals giving off west coast vibes.  Besides Pike's Place, Capitol Hill, and the other tourist hot spots, one of the most important items on my itinerary was to visit Flying Apron Bakery- a gluten free/vegan bakery in the Fremont neighborhood.  I had stumbled upon their cookbook a few years ago and was impressed with their bread and pie recipes.  So on Friday morning, my brother and I ventured to this cute little bakery on Fremont. I bought a carrot muffin which I enjoyed with a delicious cup of coffee.  My brother ordered the lentil soup which came with a slice of their garlic herb bread.  We also split a slice of their veggie flatbread.  Everything was moist and flavorful! They also had plenty of cookies and brownies, which unfortunately had sugar in them, so I just stuck with the breads and muffins.  Before we left, I bought a maple pecan muffin and banana nut muffin for later.  Next time I come back to Seattle, I definitely will visit this sweet spot!

 

Gluten Free Bread Delivery

In the same week, two good friends of mine sent me an email about a lady in San Francisco who bakes gluten free goodies.  Her name is Sadie and her company Bread SRSLY is awesome.  You just go online, choose from this week's selections and order your loaves via email and she'll deliver them right to your door.  How perfect for me I thought, so I finally ordered a delicious loaf of her sourdough.  It was delivered by her business partner via bike to my work, wrapped in a brown paper bag with my name on it.  The bread had a great sour taste sprinkled with a few caraway seeds.  The inside was pretty moist, which is what I usually come across when baking gluten free breads.  But when I toasted a slice, it was perfect, and the crust was nice and crunchy!  I whipped together an open face sandwich with melted almond cheese, sauted kale, and slices of apples on one half and avacodo on the other.  It was a lovely meal.  The bread is also good with a fried egg on top, or with a little Earth Balance and pure fruit jam.  I will have to order another loaf this week!  As I began typing this blog post I accidently typed gluten free "bed" delivery; now that is the only thing that would make this better: gluten free bread delivered to you in bed!  Here's dreaming...

Minako Sushi and Old Friends

You know how being with old friends can bring out parts of yourself that you might have forgotten about?  Well, this weekend my friend Hannah was in town from NYC and being with her really brought me back to the time when she was still living in San Francisco.  When deciding where to go out for dinner, we were both craving raw fish, and I suddenly remembered Minako, an organic sushi restaurant that we had gone to frequently when she was living in San Francisco.  It is one of my favorite sushi places ever, but I had not been there in years.  In fact the last time I went there was four years ago with Hannah when she was still living in SF!  So for old time's sake, we went to Minako for dinner and indulged in the most delicious meal.  We started with the sweet and crunchy almond encrusted shrimp, followed by gorgeous pieces of salmon and tuna sashimi. Then we had the most amazing salad with mixed greens, salmon and an umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) dressing that was to die for!  The waitress said the umeboshi plums were made by her own mother in 2000.  Then we had two delicious rolls filled with octopus and cucumber and more umeboshi plums, and the other with cucumber, avocado, tobiko, and the biggest chunks of fresh salmon - it was heavenly.  I was so grateful to have remembered how amazing Minako is!

Also on this visit, my friend was staying at her old apartment in San Francisco. On Sunday I came over for a fabulous brunch, including her killer salad made with cabbage, mango, jalepenos, cilantro, mint, lime and red onion.  As we cooked and talked about education and politics in her old kitchen, I felt warm waves of nostalgia come over me.  Soft and blurry images of my old self and my old life floated around the periphery of my awareness.  Being with my friend reopened parts of myself that had become burried and lost.  After we ate, I said good-bye to my friend and walked home, up the hill in the sunshine.  I felt refueled, not only with delicious healthy food, but also with a stronger sense of where I've come from and where I'm heading.